Apparatus for filling bottles and similar receptacles with liquid

ABSTRACT

A bottle-filling apparatus includes a filling head whose outlet is to be placed in communication with the interior of a bottle or similar receptacle. Annular valve seat surrounds the internal liquid-conveying passage of the filling head, and a valve member is movable into and out of engagement with the valve seat between a valve-opening and a valve-closing position. A venting conduit is carried by the valve member coaxially therewith and extending therethrough and has an inlet opening which communicates with the interior of the bottle when the outlet of the filling head similarly communicates with the bottle. The venting conduit serves to vent gas from the interior of the receptacle in response to admission of liquid into the latter until such time as the level of liquid rises to and closes the inlet opening whereupon a cushion of compressed gas develops above the liquid level and prevents continued flow of liquid into the bottle. Throttling means is provided which defines two narrow annular gaps, spaced axially from one another, in the interior of the liquid passage of the filling head, serving to prevent the compressed gas of the cushion from penetrating and escaping through the liquid contained in the passage.

Tlited States Patent .lolron [451 Jan. 1972 [72] Inventor: Heinz Jordon, Dortmund-Wambel, Germany Holstein & Kappert Maschinenfabrik PhoenimGrnbH, Dortmund, Germany [22] Filed: Sept. 25, 1969 [21] Appl.No.: 863,413

[73] Assignee:

FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1,073,095 6/1967 Great Britain 141/48 Primary Examiner Edward J. Earls Attorney-Michael S. Striker [5 7] ABSTRACT A bottle-filling apparatus includes a filling head whose outlet is to be placed in communication with the interior of a bottle or similar receptacle. Annular valve seat surrounds the internal liquid-conveying passage of the filling head, and a valve member is movable into and out of engagement with the valve seat between a valve-opening and a valve-closing position. A venting conduit is carried by the valve member coaxially therewith and extending therethrough and has an inlet opening which communicates with the interior of the bottle when the outlet of the filling head similarly communicates with the bottle. The venting conduit serves to vent gas from the interior of the receptacle in response to admission of liquid into the latter until such time as the level of liquid rises to and closes the inlet opening whereupon a cushion of compressed gas develops above the liquid level and prevents continued flow of liquid into the bottle. Throttling means is provided which defines two narrow annular gaps, spaced axially from one another, in the interior of the liquid passage of the filling head, serving to prevent the compressed gas of the cushion from penetrating and escaping through the liquid contained in the passage.

3 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures WPATENTED-IJAMEWZ 35,263

HE/NZ JORDAN APPARATUS FOR FILLING BOTTLES AND SIMILAR RECEPTACLES WITH LIQUID BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates generally to apparatus for filling bottles and similar receptacles, and more particularly to apparatus of this type utilizing so-called counterpressure filling heads.

Filling heads of this type are already known, i.e., by U.S. Pat. No. 2,597,943. They operate on the principle that, when their outlet communicates with the interior of a receptacle, such as a bottle or other container, hereatter for the sake of convenience identified as a bottle, the liquid entering the bottle displaces air contained therein. To permit such displacement the filling head is provided with an air-escape or venting conduit through which the displaced air is vented in suitable manner, for instance to the ambient atmosphere. The venting conduit extends into the interior of the bottle and has an inlet opening located slightly below the level to which the bottle is to be filled with liquid. As the liquid level rises in the bottle it reaches the inlet opening of the venting conduit, closing the same against further venting of entrapped air. Consequently, the still remaining air is now confined in the space between the level of the liquid and the outlet opening of the bottle which outlet opening is closed by the filling head.

In this space the remaining entrapped air becomes compressed, thereby developing a counterpressure which quickly reaches the point where it prevents the further entry of liquid into the bottle.

Apparatus utilizing such filling heads operates automatically, and the filling heads are provided with valves which close when the filling of a bottle is completed and remain closed until the next bottle is in place for filling with liquid from the filling head. However, at the moment at which the liquid level in the bottle reaches its predetermined height, that is when the further inflow of liquid is prevented by the counterpressure exerted by the cushion of compressed air above the liquid level in the bottle, the'valve is still in open position so that further inflow of liquid into the bottle is prevented only by the presence of the compressed air in the latter. Evidently, this system will operate only if the surface tension of the liquid in the liquid passage of the filling head, and more particularly in the flow-through opening of the valve, is large enough to prevent the escape of the compressed air through the opening of the valve, because otherwise the air will bubble up through the liquid and escape, and liquid will again How into the bottle until the same overflows.

The problem has been solved when certain liquids are filled into bottles by arranging a fine-mesh grid in the flow-through opening of the valve and thereby preventing the surface tension of the liquid in this flow-through opening from being disrupted by the pressure of the compressed air. Evidently, the dimensions of the flow-through opening are normally much too large to be able to prevent this, but the presence of the fine-mesh grid achieves the desired purpose very well.

Unfortunately, this is found to be usable only with clear liquids, not liquids which contain any solids. In particular, it has been found that such grids become rapidly clogged if pulpcontaining fruit juices are to be filled into bottles with such devices. This of course disrupts the proper operation of the device. Attempts to overcome the problem by utilizing a siphon which is to prevent the escape of the compressed air have not been very successful, for the reason that the flowthrough capacity of a siphon-type closure which is still capable of preventing the escape of the compressed air is rather limited and therefore this solution has not been found practical for modern high-volume machines of the type in question. Other approaches have also been tried, but have failed because the devices have invariably become rapidly clogged with pulp contained in the liquids.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION it .is, accordingly, an object of the present invention to overcome the aforementioned disadvantages of the prior art.

A move particular object of the invention is to provide an improved apparatus for filling bottles and similar receptacles with liquid, particularly solids-containing liquid, which is not subject to these disadvantages.

A concomitant object of the invention is to provide such an apparatus which is simple in its construction and reliable in its operation.

Still a further object of the invention is to provide an apparatus of the type in question which is capable of being utilized with existing bottling and analogous machines.

ln pursuance of the above objects, and others which will become apparent hereafter, one feature of the invention resides, briefly stated, in the provision-in an apparatus for filling bottles and similar receptacles with liquid, of wall means which defines a passage having an inlet for receiving liquid from a source, and an outlet arranged to be placed in communication with the interior of the receptacle. An annular valve seat surrounds the passage inte'riorly thereof and a valve member is movable into and out of engagement with the valve seat between a valve-closing and a valve-opening position for respectively preventing and permitting the flow of liquid through the outlet. A venting conduit is provided having an inlet opening which extends into a receptacle with which the outlet communicates for venting of gas from the interior of the receptacle in response to admission of liquid into the latter and until such time as the level of liquid in the receptacle rises to and closes the inlet opening with attendant development of a cushion of compressed gas above the liquid level which prevents continued flow of liquid through the outlet. Finally, in accordance with the invention there is provided throttling means defining in this passage at least one annular throttling gap so dimensioned as to prevent penetration of the compressed gas through the liquid in the passage and out of the inlet of the passage.

The annular throttling gap according to the present invention is capable of fulfilling the above-mentioned requirements. On the one hand, if it is narrow enough the liquid in it will have adequate surface tension to prevent the pressure of the compressed gas cushion from disrupting the surface tension and from allowing the gas to escape. On the other hand, the more even and less flow of liquid through the annular gapshaped opening makes the latter much less susceptible to clogging by solids, particularly the largely stringy pulp components, than is the case with otherwise configurated openings, for instance round bores, openings in fine-mesh grids, and the like.

In accordance with the invention it is advantageous to provide two or more of such gaps which are slightly spaced from one another in the direction of flow of the liquid, and with parallel arrangement of these gaps the filling capacity of a filling head so constructed may be increased as desired,

The novel features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its construction and its method of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will be best understood from the following description of specific embodimentswhen read in connection with the accompanying drawing.

BRIEF DESCRlPTlON OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a fragmentary sectional elevation showing the lefthand side of an embodiment according to the present invention in filling condition; and

FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. 1, but showing the right-hand side of the same apparatus with the valve member in closing position.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Discussing the drawing in detail, and firstly FIG. 1 thereof, it will be seen that reference numeral 1 identifies a valve housing of a filling head for use in an apparatus for filling bottles and similar receptacles with liquid. Such apparatus is already well known i.e., by US. Pat. No. 2,862,528 and is not shown or described because it does not in itself constitute a part of the present invention.

The valve housing 1, or the wall means defining the same, surrounds an internal passage P which communicates at its inlet end with a source of liquid, identified with reference numeral l3 and shown only diagrammatically by the chain lines. The configuration or type of the receptacle containing the liquid is of no importance for purposes of the present invention, the only requirement being that there is a source from which liquid enters into the passage P.

At the opposite end the passage P is provided with an outlet opening 2 which is bounded at the exterior by a conically tapering surface la configurated so as to tightly and sealingly extend into an inlet opening of a receptacle R. The receptacle is again identified only diagrammatically by the chain lines, and could be a bottle, a jar or any other receptacle which is to be filled with the apparatus in question.

Arranged in the interior of the passage P is a value member 3 movable in the direction of the double-headed arrow between a retracted position in which the valve is open and liquid passes from the source 13 through the passage P and through the outlet 2 into the interior of the receptacle R, and a valve-closing position in which a sealing element 4, for instance of elastomeric material, which is carried by the valve member 3 engages a valve seat 12 (see FIG. 2) which surrounds the passage P upstream of the outlet opening 2. The closed position of the valve member 3 is illustrated in FIG. 2, and it will be understood that in this position a receptacle R associated with the device has been filled to the desired level and is being removed and is ready to be replaced by an empty receptacle.

Mounted on the valve member 3 for movement therewith is a tubular venting conduit 5 whose inlet opening is located in the interior of the receptacle R when the surface la is in position closing the opening of the receptacle as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. The inlet opening of the conduit 5 is located in the receptacle R slightly below the level to which the liquid is to rise finally in the receptacle.

In accordance with the present invention throttling means is provided which defines, in the illustrated embodiment, two annular throttling gaps 8 and 10. The gap 8 is defined between a ring member 7 which is mounted in the interior of the passage P surrounding the valve member 3 with clearance, as illustrated, and an annular end face 7 of which defines the throttling gap 8 of annular configuration with an annular surface portion 9 of the internal surface of the valve housing 1. The annular throttling gap 10 is defined between the inner circumferential surface 11 of the ring member 6 and a circumferentially extending surface portion 3a of the valve member 3.

Insofar as the internal configuration of the device is concerned, that is the configuration of the passage P, the ring member 6, the valve member 3 and the various other components located within the confines of the passage P, it is emphasized that the device is mirror-symmetrical, that is that the right-hand side of the device is similar to the left-hand side illustrated in FIG. 1. This is also evident from FIG. 2 which differs from FIG. 1 only in that the valve member 3 is shown in its valve-closing position in which of course the inlet opening of the venting conduit 5 is located deeper in the receptacle R because the conduit 5 is carried by and moves with the valve member 3.

The operation of the device illustrated in FIGS. I and 2 will be evident. When the valve member 3 is in the position illustrated in FIG. 1, liquid passes from the source 13 through the passage P past the valve seat 12 and through the outlet opening 2 into the interior of the receptacle R. It continues to do so until the level of liquid, identified with reference character L in FIG. 1, rises to or just above the inlet opening of the venting conduit 5. Until this time air displaced from the interior of the receptacle R was able to escape through the conduit 5 to be vented from the same in suitable manner, for instance to the ambient atmosphere. Now, however, the level L provides a liquid seal at the inlet opening of the conduit 5, preventing the further escape of residual air from the receptacle R. This air is now entrapped between the level L and the outlet of the receptacle R, which outlet is closed by the tightly fitting surface la. It therefore cannot escape and becomes compressed, fonning a cushion of compressed air in this space. Of course, this cushion has a tendency to escape through the outlet 2 of the passage P. However, the passage P is filled with liquid and the throttling gaps 8 and 10 are so dimensioned that the surface tension of the liquid filling these gaps in conjunction with the static pressure prevents the escape of the entrapped gas usually air-because the gas is unable to overcome the counterforce acting in downward direction, that is in direction towards the outlet 2in the annular gaps 8 and 10 and composed of the resistance of the liquid surface tension and the static pressure acting upon the liquid. Therefore, the compressed gas is reliably prevented from escaping until such time as the valve member 3 moves to valve-closing position as shown in FIG. 2 and the filled bottle is removed. It should still be emphasized that the slightly higher liquid level shown in FIG. 2 versus that shown in FIG. 1 is the result of continued inflow of liquid after the level has reached the outlet opening of the conduit 5, because some additional liquid can then still enter until the pressure of the residual gas above the level L is sufficient to prevent further inflow.

The construction thus reliably prevents the escape of the entrapped gas, but on the other hand it has been found that the annular throttling gaps are not readily clogged by food pulp or similar solids in the liquid as this has been the case heretofore in all prior art constructions attempting to deal with the problem. Of course, it should be understood that the construction disclosed herein is not only suitable for liquids containing solids such as fruit pulps; it is particularly well suitable for use with such liquids and is, indeed the only construction known to me which fulfills the earlier outlined requirements. It is clear, however, that the construction can also be used with clear liquids, that is with liquids which contain no solids at all.

It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or two or more together, may also find a useful application in other types of constructions differing from the types described above.

While the invention has been illustrated and described as embodied in an apparatus for filling bottles and similar receptacles with liquid, it is not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made without departing in any way from the spirit of the present invention.

I claim:

1. In an apparatus for filling bottles and similar receptacles with liquid, a combination comprising wall means defining a passage having an inlet for receiving liquid from a source, and an outlet arranged to be placed in communication with the interior of a receptacle; an annular valve seat surrounding said passage interiorly thereof; a valve member movable into and out of engagement with said valve seat between a valve-closing and a valve-opening position for respectively preventing and permitting the flow of liquid through said outlet; a venting conduit having an inlet opening extending into a receptacle with which said outlet communicates for venting of gas from the interior of the receptacle in response to admission of liquid into the latter and until such time as the level of liquid in the receptacle rises to and closes said inlet opening with attendant development of a cushion of compressed gas above the liquid level which prevents continued flow of liquid through said outlet; and stationary throttling means defining in said passage throttling means comprises an annular member stationarily mounted in said passage and surrounding said valve member coaxially with said outlet, said annular member having an annular edge face juxtaposed and defining with an annular surface portion of said inner circumferential surface one of said throttling gaps, and an inwardly directed peripheral surface facing said valve member and defining therewith the other of said annular throttling gaps at least when said valve member is I in said valve-closing position. 

1. In an apparatus for filling bottles and similar receptacles with liquid, a combination comprising wall means defining a passage having an inlet for receiving liquid from a source, and an outlet arranged to be placed in communication with the interior of a receptacle; an annular valve seat surrounding said passage interiorly thereof; a valve member movable into and out of engagement with said valve seat between a valve-closing and a valve-opening position for respectively preventing and permitting the flow of liquid through said outlet; a venting conduit having an inlet opening extending into a receptacle with which said outlet communicates for venting of gas from the interior of the receptacle in response to admission of liquid into the latter and until such time as the level of liquid in the receptacle rises to and closes said inlet opening with attendant development of a cushion of compressed gas above the liquid level which prevents continued flow of liquid through said outlet; and stationary throttling means defining in said passage upstream of said valve seat at least two fixed, axially spaced and communicating annular throttling gaps so dimensioned as to prevent in conjunction with one another penetration of the compressed gas through the liquid in said passage and out of said inlet
 2. In an apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein said venting conduit comprises a conduit member extending through said valve member and being movable with the same between said positions thereof.
 3. In an apparatus as defined in claim 1, said wall means having an inner circumferential surface; and wherein said throttling means comprises an annular member stationarily mounted in said passage and surrounding said valve member coaxially with said outlet, said annular member having an annular edge face juxtaposed and defining with an annular surface portion of said inner circumferential surface one of said throttling gaps, and an inwardly directed peripheral surface facing said valve member and defining therewith the other of said annular throttling gaps at least when said valve member is in said valve-closing position. 